Matthew Wright reveals what he’s watching on television, from crime drama Inspector George Gently to university comedy Fresh Meat.

Matthew Wright is a big fan of Fresh Meat (Picture: Getty)

Inspector George Gently

I watch a lot of crime drama and this is the last thing I watched that made an enduring impression. I didn’t realise I was such a fan. But the last episode of the most recent series was an extraordinary crime drama and nothing like what I perceived it to be – as a sort of everyday story about police in the north in the Peak Practice era. But I do have a massive criticism, which is that I’ve never seen so much gratuitous on-screen smoking before in my life. It just doesn’t stop.

The Bridge

I am a quarter Norwegian and I’d never been particularly proud of my Scandinavian roots before I saw The Killing first of all. What The Bridge did that was so brilliant was it made probably the most boring thing known to mankind, a coalition government, interesting and sexy and exciting.

Fresh Meat

The other bent I have is for young people’s school days comedy: The Inbetweeners, Fresh Meat, Bad Education. The one I found the most enjoyable was Fresh Meat – when I was at university in Exeter, which has got a real OK-yah reputation, there were thousands of Jack Whitehall figures. Some of them even wearing cravats.

My favourite TV character

Rupert Penry-Jones as DI Joe Chandler in Whitechapel. He’s a public school, fast-tracked detective – which means obviously the viewing public are meant to dislike him – who is also affected by OCD. I thought the OCD aspect was fascinating and totally unexpected – they really developed it well.

Matthew Wright presents The Wright Stuff on weekdays at 9.15am on Channel 5.